


We Keep Fighting

by Haywire



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 08:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6603544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haywire/pseuds/Haywire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria and Nat have an unofficial talk about Nat's most recent SHIELD mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Keep Fighting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lotsofstuffandpaper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lotsofstuffandpaper/gifts).



> Set before the whole Captain America: TWS changed things in a big big way. Hope you like it! :)

“Grande skinny non-fat caramel macchiato for Nat, and a Captain Crunch frappucino for Marie?” the barista sang out.

Natasha went up and got their drinks, raising an eyebrow as she returned to their table and placed Maria’s drink in front of her.

“Well, _Marie_ ,” she started, “what exactly is a Captain Crunch frappucino, might I ask?”

“It’s awesome and it’s exactly what it sounds like. Here, try some.” Maria stuck a straw into her beverage then pushed the plastic cup towards Nat as she took a seat across from her. “It’s off of the secret menu.”

“Why am I not surprised by that?” Nat smirked and took the proffered cup, sliding the straw between her lips and taking a sip. Her made an audible hmm before taking another sip, bigger this time, which prompted Maria to lean over and gently wrest the drink away.

“See, what’d I tell you? Delicious, right?”

“It is indeed.” Nat returned to her own cup, wrapping her hands around it and enjoying the warmth after Maria’s cold drink choice. “So, I know you didn’t just invite me out to show off your clearly superior Starbucks prowess. What did you want to talk about, exactly?”

“Hey, what makes you think I have ulterior motives?” Maria said, playfully kicking the other woman underneath their table. “Ok, well, we did get an invite in the mail for my cousin’s upcoming wedding and I wanted to drag you out dress shopping, but I also wanted to talk to you about…” She trailed off, looking down at her cup.

“About the mission,” finished Nat, not looking away from Maria.

“Not in an official capacity, Nat, I just think -”

“I’m fine, Maria. Really.” Natasha shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee. “It was just a sprained ankle, and none of my ribs were actually broken. Besides, I needed this break anyway, right?”

“You know that’s not what I want to talk about,” Maria replied, letting her words hang out there.

Nat had another sip and took her time before saying anything further. When she did speak again her voice was quieter, and she didn’t make eye contact with the other woman.

“You’re sure this isn’t in an official capacity?”

Maria reached out and placed her hand over one of Nat’s, squeezing it gently. “You know me better than that, Nat.” Had it been official they wouldn’t have been in a Starbucks out in public, for starters, and there’d have been a stricter dress code involving uniforms rather than the casual wear they both had on at the time. “I just want to make sure you’re alright, that’s all.”

“Like I said, I’m fine.” Nat shrugged again, shorter than the first time, though her eyes remained on her coffee cup as she slowly turned it around in place with her free hand. “I mean… yeah. Shit happens. People die. No one wants that to happen.”

“No one’s blaming you for his death,” Maria added, giving the red head’s hand another squeeze. “If anyone’s to blame it’s Hydra, they were the ones -”

“We were supposed to stop.” Nat’s eyes snapped up to meet Maria’s. “That’s our job, to stop them, to prevent things like this from happening, Maria. And we’re doing a shitty job of it, pardon my language.”

A mother walking by scowled at Nat and her choice of diction, tugging an eight or nine year old child in tow along with her.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, but if you recall it’s not as easy as it sounds. Not that it sounds easy at all,” Maria said. “Look, we’re doing all that we can -”

“But it’s not enough. It’s never enough.” Nat let go of Maria’s hand and placed both of her own on the back of her neck, stretching and rubbing her sore flesh.

Her mind flashed back to her recent mission, where they’d been ambushed midway through accomplishing their objective. In the ensuing firefight her and a fellow SHIELD agent had become pinned down behind their parked motor vehicle. One of their assailants rushed them, coming at them from one side of the vehicle, and Nat ran to meet him head on.

She dispatched him with relative ease after a short struggle, but not before his partner came around the other side of the vehicle, flanking her and the other agent. Nat acted as quickly as possible but it was too late; the enemy got the drop on the other SHIELD agent, who had been watching her back, and they wasted no time, killing him with a single shot to the back of his head.

It had been a quick, painless death, Nat reminded herself for the millionth time, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he was dead in the first place when he shouldn’t have been.

“I know,” Maria answered, interrupting her reverie. “And, because once again this is unofficial, I don’t know that it ever will be enough,” she admitted. Officially she followed her orders to the tee and would never opine on whether or not SHIELD was capable of fulfilling its role, but Maria had her own concerns as well.

“So what do we do?” Nat asked, her eyes betraying her for a split second and begging Maria for a real solution to what she knew deep down was an impossible situation.

“We keep fighting. That’s all we can do, so that people like the ones we stopped - _you_ stopped,” she corrected, “can’t hurt anyone else any more.”

Nat remembered how she’d taken care of that second enemy, the one who’d killed her fellow SHIELD agent. His death, on the contrary, hadn’t been quick and painless. She slowly lifted her cup to her face and took a long sip, mulling over Maria’s words.

“I know you’re right, it’s just…” She didn’t have the words to complete that thought, so instead Nat just put her hand back out for Maria to take, which she did nearly instantaneously.

“Hey, if you weren’t feeling this way? I’d be way more concerned about you, hon. For the record,” Maria added with a slight smirk, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand once more.

“We’ll do a full debriefing later, promise.” Nat said with a nod, knowing that Maria had to do one on the record at some point anyway.

“Oh I bet we will,” Maria playfully ran her thumb over the back of Nat’s hand, then released it, snapping her fingers. “Which reminds me, speaking of dresses, or undressing -”

“I didn’t say anything about undressing, you went there all by yourself, ma’am,” Nat said with a small smile and a chuckle.

“Did you just _ma’am_ me? Wow.” Maria shook her head then lightly kicked Nat under the table once more. “But seriously, let’s get the whole wedding dress picking out stuff out of the way, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Nat replied, this time being the one to reach out and give Maria’s hand a quick squeeze. It lasted only a second before she scooped up the remnants of her coffee and hopped off of her seat, following Maria into the depths of the shopping complex.


End file.
